I liked most of the suggestions , especially me me's , and was going to add a couple of my observations , then I got to the 'after' photo , and looked again ! Just my opinion , but there's no way I would have changed the brick colour -- not only does it look so fake , but your's is 1 unit out of 3 , which makes it look doubly fake IMO . And if it was charcoal , or off-white , it would still look jarring , but a dark blue ? Oh well . . . . . . . The red door is a great idea ( on its own ! ) -- as me me said , I would have left the trim charcoal , done the railing in the same , and the fence uprights ( posts ) the same . The initial photo looked like the fence palings were unpainted -- the latter they look painted , which is good -- with dark uprights , I'd say it would have all tied in . With brown uprights , blue bricks , natural railing , red door , white trim and a green bike ( yes , I know it can be moved ! ) it looks more like a kindergarten than a house IMO .

Western Sydney can be a very hot place in summer. So you've really got to try to minimise summer heat loads. What does this mean? Keeping the summer sun off your windows. Easy to do in the north, with appropriate length eaves. But much more difficult to do from the east & west. As the sun is lower in the sky & eaves become ineffective. Western sun is a particular problem, as the sun is in this direction at the hottest time of the day. So that is why quite a few people a few commenters have raise the issue of too many western windows. So how do you resolve this? It's difficult to do when the long sides of your home face east & west. But there are options to minimise western glazing. Firstly, eliminating or minimising windows. That's a very large western window in the dining area, which will get blazing hot in summer. I'd be eliminating this window (more in that later), or at least greatly reducing its size. I'd be eliminating the western wrap-around portion of the master bedroom window. Yes, it may look cool, but this will be at the expense of you comfort. You certainly don't want SW sun coming in your bedroom windows in summer evenings. Same goes for the media room. A very large western window means a very hot space. I'd this a true media room? If so, I'd think you'd want lower levels of glazing in this room. I'd actually eliminate this window, & take the following approach. Next, where possible, swap the western windows for glazing facing a different direction. You can do this in the media room, with long, thin windows. You can also do this in the upstairs living area. Again a large western window, which certainly should be swapped out for a northern window. Thirdly, locate rarely used rooms in the western side of the house. So they can bear the brunt of the western sun. Bathrooms, laundries (not in your case), & importantly, the garage. So I'd actually look at flipping the from portion of the house, so that the media room faces SE & the garage SW. Tough you won't have access from the garage to the laundry, which may be something you want. I'd then consider having the entrance to the home on the western side, beside the garage. This means you'll have a shorter hallway from the entrance to you living areas. Changes to the location of the garage to the western side may not be allowed, of the road is busier, or if the driveway is too close to the corner. So that would need to be looked at, if you were considering this change. As for your remaining western (& eastern) windows, you've got to try to minimise the amount of heat that comes through these windows. There's a few approaches. Louvred vertical sun shades or timber battens are an option. These will reduce the amount of sun striking the window, & increase privacy, but decrease the views out the window. Shutters or awnings are an option, but probably don't look as nice. Window treatments, such as low-e glass, are a good idea too - just note reviews for some single glazed low-e glass products aren't great. Western (& eastern) glazing should certainly be low SHGC (solar heat gain coefficient). As has been mentioned, windows should also be designed for cross-ventilation. A free was way too cool your home, especially effective at night. Winter in western Sydney can be pretty cold too. In winter it's all about letting the sun in, particularly the northern sun, as the sun is in the northern portion of the sky. As has been mentioned above, northern covered alfrescos aren't a great idea. Robbing north facing living areas of daylight, & winter sunshine. At the very least add a vergola to let some sun in here. you should also consider zoning your main living area. that is, having a door that can separate it from the rest of the house. Then you can just heat this room, instead of the entire house. Otherwise the staircase will act like a giant chimney, losing heat upstairs. You'd need to reverse the direction of the staircase, to add a door between it & the kitchen/laundry area. May not be ideal, but worth considering.

You see how horrible the green looks now ? Even the brown ? That was trendy in the 90's . Grey will go the same way , personally i feel it has . Wood is warm , the steel blue in one of the pictures is underutilised IMO , charcoal hides a multitude of sins . I'd definitely break a verandas look , with a charcoal base . I'd go with natural varnished timber verticals , and be tempted to do a lighter steel blue deck and handrails , as well as the gutters . I suspect the gutters won't even look out of place against the brown roof , as long as they look light and slightly industrial ( steel blue does that ) . You could even go as light as surfmist for the gutters / rails / deck without it looking 'funny' . The garage would be a challenge -- I'd personally try and get an orangy beige to reference the bricks , but that would be tricky . So probably settle for steel blue or surfmist or whatever shade of light silvery blue you opt for . I wonder how long your windows would last painted though -- given their age , I suspect they may have started to oxidise , even if they haven't , they would need a lot of prep . By keeping fairly light colours on your gutters . handrails etc , the windows maybe won't look too bad , as they look a relatively light golden shade . Personally , I'd consult an expert about the windows . Hopefully given you something to think about ?

The whole project continues to be a sad, exhausting back and forth! Large amounts of money has already been put into the design process with various draftsman and designers now. The lift has begun and I only have a narrow window t change things. I just really want peace and resolution of the space inside and out. Street appeal means alot to me and I am not sure how to acheive this with the current facade and also pay homage to the home. I understand that most opinions on this feed seem to be negative. Is there anything positive about our plan? I am not sure what is meant by a house with many rooms? Are the rooms not functional?? The interior was governed by so much structuely that this was the least expensive way upstairs to provide 3 bedrooms, storage and an office space for my husband and myself/and our children combined. This process has honestly been an exhausting and very costly journey. The current interior designer gave suggestions of having a large window in the front bedroom walk ins. We can open this windows right up to allow for breeze and put plantation shutters up to allow for privacy behind the windows. The front bottom windows can do the same. The back window above the staircase could be all louvred to allow for breeze as well as the library. The downstairs all opens up with screened sliders. If anyone can suggest better types of windows for the current home and specific materials and maybe a drawing of how best to honour the facade of the old home whilst being practical I would be very grateful.